Chair of Cedars-Sinai's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Named To Stem Cell Panel

Los Angeles - Sept. 21, 2006 - Ricardo Azziz, M.D., chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, has been appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee that monitors the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s distribution of state funds for stem cell research.

Azziz, the executive director of the Androgen Excess Society, has led numerous scientific studies of infertility and hormonal disorders, particularly androgen excess disorders, hirsutism and polycystic ovary syndrome. Recognized internationally for his expertise in reproductive endocrinology, he has directed several multinational studies.

The Helping Hand of Los Angeles Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Azziz has served in a variety of educational, editorial and advisory capacities with the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists since becoming a fellow in 1989. He also is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Endocrine Society, the Society of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, the Society for Gynecologic Investigation and other professional associations related to endocrinology, reproduction and laparoscopy.

He has been a member of the Reproductive Endocrinology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health, and previously chaired the Food and Drug Administration’s Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee.

Prior to his appointments at Cedars-Sinai in 2002, Azziz held several positions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico, he received his medical degree from Pennsylvania State University in Hershey in 1981 before completing an internship and a residency in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

From 1985 to 1987, Azziz completed a postgraduate fellowship in reproductive endocrinology while serving as an instructor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. He earned master’s degrees in public health in 1995 and in business administration in 2000 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.